Chihiro's New Order
by Captain Rose the First
Summary: As a girl, Chihiro had been accidentally trapped in the spirit realm. But now, as an adult, she finds herself there once more- and this time they expect her to take Yubaba's place as owner of the bathhouse.


"Master Sen?" The water was cool against her soft skin, her brunette hair billowing out in the clear pool. She could hear someone calling to her from far away, but in the moment she couldn't find it in herself to care.

"Master Sen!" A croaking voice echoed in her ears again, more urgently this time. She took a deep breath, the thinly filtered oxygen seeming to freeze her nose and throat. Rays of sunlight crossed her vision and she snapped to attention. She was late, so very late. The sun shouldn't be up yet!

"Master Sen!" The frogman jumped back in surprise as the girl hastily broke the surface, her wet hair clinging to her naked body like dark snakes, covering most of her exposed skin. She eyed him irritably. "Why didn't you get me sooner?" Her tone was level but she was obviously trying to harness her disappointment.

She grabbed the plush yellow towel out of his webbed hands while he sat squat and stared at her, trying to find a worthy excuse. All that came out of his mouth was a string of "ums" and "ers" that didn't quite cohere.

"Actually," Chihiro said, smiling distantly as she wrapped herself in the cloth. "I apologize. I should have been watching the time myself. And I certainly shouldn't have snapped at you! This is just so important to me..." She made a brief hand gesture and they both rose into the air, zooming towards the bathhouse and landing on the top floor balcony in a few effortless motions.

The frogman stared at her, his wide mouth agape and eyes wide in fear. "You're not going to punish me?" He stared at her as she wrapped her thick brown locks in the towel and slipped on a short, frilly white dress. "I know I'm new, but I was hoping the workers would have higher expectations for me." She turned to him, the sadness in her eyes taking him aback. "I am not Yubaba, and I refuse to run this bathhouse as she did."

It had only been two months since her fall, since her life had been completely scrambled once again. Fate had been so cruel, wrenching her away from her new apartment and her boyfriend, flinging her back into her childhood home with her grieving family and a funeral that she just couldn't handle.

Technically it was suicide, but had Chihiro actually wanted to die? No, she had wanted to go back home, the only place she had ever felt at home, at least. She was furious and confused and in so much pain, it had felt easy to step right of the cliff into the empty riverbed and expect an old friend to be there to catch her. Instead it was the sharp rocks that broke her tumble, that broke her left ankle and two ribs and punctured a lung as well. When she woke up, she had left most of her memories and the human realm behind.

Back to the bathhouse, back to peace.

"Goodbye Master Sen! Best of luck to you!" The foreman hollered as she exited through the front doors, a strip of train tickets clenched tightly in her fist. The fat mouse and tiny raven sat on her shoulder as usual, happily chirping about how glad they were Sen was back. There was a time when she would correct them to call her Chihiro, but no one in the world knew her by that name anyways, so she had given up in aspiration.

The train, two cars longer than she had remembered it, pulled to a stop at the station and Chihiro grinned. She had missed this. It let out a puff of light gray smoke from it's golden pipes and the shiny red doors folded open, a spirit just inside reaching out, palm open, waiting for tickets. The girl handed him all she had, making him count them out and rip off half. "To the green city, please." She bowed hastily, received her leftover ticket, and clambered up the steep stairs.

Haku, here I come. The raven grabbed the mouse by his scruff and floated him down to one of the comfortable leather benches. Chihiro sat down beside, opening the small sack of snacks she had bought and feeding her companions cheese and crackers. The tracks were still covered in water from the recent rains. The storm seasons were her favorite, she loved to bathe in the cool waters to clear her mind. Lucky the bathhouse was so high up, with a long bridge to let the spirits cross without getting wet.

Finally, the train halted to a stop, and the doors opened. A couple other ghostly people got off at the stop, Chihiro getting off last and thanking the spirit at the door once more. The Green City was beautiful, full of tall emerald colored shops with a yellow green light filtering out the windows that made the sky look like it was full of lightening bugs. "Boh, bird, look!" She exclaimed, nudging the small creatures on her shoulder and pointing straight ahead. Down the narrow, twisting road, was a sign that read: The Jaded Cat, Shop of Magic and Fortune.

It was exactly the place they were searching for. Chihiro broke out in a run, free like she had once been, dodging spirits that carried large crates of oranges and sugar stalks. When she reached the door she was completely out of breath, her companions buzzing in the air behind her. She paused for a moment, her heart fluttering in her chest. This is it. She pushed open the door.

The room was full of glass cases that glistened like dewdrops in the sun, strewn randomly around the room making for a maze-like path. They were full of strange herbs and statues and gems, tiny balls of fire, dancing rats, fish trapped in floating globs of seawater, young kittens in strange, unnatural colors.

She ducked around a large cupboard full of pendants shaped like lizards to see a man behind a counter, carefully polishing what appeared to be a bowl of crystal candy. He looked up and smiled when he saw her. "Ah! A valued customer, welcome! May I help you?" His wide smile was authentic but his eyes were tired.

"Excuse me, I came looking for my friend Haku, do you know where he is?" Chihiro felt like a dopey child once again, the man staring at her in an almost judgmental way. His smile fell away and he narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry, I can't help you." His voice was jovial but his expression was so contradictory, it gave Chihiro the creeps.

She decided to stand her ground. "Are you sure? I got a letter when I first arrived, it told me to come here at 8:30 and ask the man at the desk to see Haku. Well I'm here and I'd like to see him please."

The man frowned and looked at a strange clock that was covered in gears. "It's 8:46. You're a little late, aren't you? I think you should leave." He put down the cloth he was polishing the bowl with and pointed directly at her, giving her a fierce poke in the chest. "Now, girl. Haku isn't here." An invisible force started to drag her towards the door by the edge of her dress.

"No, wait! Please, I need to see him!" She flailed her arms out, knocking over a shimmering shelf full of steaming rocks. They hissed as they hit the ground. She fell on the rough brick road outside, the doors slamming shut behind her and the "Open" sign flipping to read "Closed".

Chihiro felt tears well in her eyes and she sat up, rubbing her sore elbows. The lights of The Jaded Cat snuffed out, leaving the windows cold and black. She had a hollow feeling in her stomach. The bird dropped Boh on her shoulder, who snuffled at her neck and made her squirm, but it was short lived.

"Now how am I ever going to see Haku again?!" She pulled her legs in to her chest and let out a quiet sob. The spirits around her bustled uncaringly. A few pieces of fruit fell around her, off carts and crates, unknowingly left behind. She picked up a strange red berry and threw it angrily at the adjacent building. Haku promised to come back, he'd promised.

After a while she stood up, brushed the soot off of herself, and started to make her way back to the train station. The road seemed much longer than it had when she crossed it the first time. Suddenly, there was a hand wrapped firmly around her upper arm, dragging her into an alleyway- It was everything she had feared as a young girl, everything her mother had warned her about...

But then she was in a quiet tent, the floor littered with red pillows and a candle lighting it up. And there he was, his deep green eyes brimming with emotion, his mouth taut with worry. "You shouldn't be here, Sen." He said, stroking her ponytail gently.

"Haku!"


End file.
